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Thus have I heard...

"Wherever self is, virtue cannot exist"

So when it comes to carrying out a beneficial act .... just do it and be done with it before the self-generating ego gets wind of it and puts a spanner in the works, that is, depleting the merits/karma which may come from performing such an act.

In a nutshell : Just do it because you are in a position to do so without any expectations.

Hi August! Welcome to NB

My opinion is that as one deepens his or her practice and the mind begins to "settle" and slow down, one can reflect on one's thoughts and patterns and, unfortunately, I have a lot of very egoistic decisions and nasty thoughts against others (including myself).

With the study of the Four Noble Truths and Right View & Right Effort, one realises how the three poisons can be countered through observation, patience and loving-kindness. It is like that quote which states the best revenge is not to become like your enemy.

Recently I saw a Zen talk that explained how metta is the most important and guides us through the rest of the other brahmaviharas (karuna, mudita, upekkha). I will try and find it and share it through here!

The love we talk about is not the "Love You" nor the "Love Me" one way love.
It is the "Love All" love. It is the love that embraces self and others and all else.
It says, "I love and appreciate my life; I love and appreciate your life; I love and appreciate all life; equally.
This is the all embracing love, compassion and mercy. Such love does not always sound to the ears as live or compassion or mercy.
When a child does something he or she was told not to do and, say a vase is broken, if the parent responds with anger, "You broke my vase, now you will be punished.", though the parent may love the child, those words of anger are not coming from love.
Now, under the same scenario, the parent is upset, but chooses to not act out in anger, but, instead approaches the child and says, "You were told to be careful, yet you were recless. As a result, the vase is broken. It can not be unbroken. Of course You should be more careful. You will clean it up. But what else have we learned that we many not break more vases?"
In the first, the child learns to not upset ther parent, that is it.
In the second, while not a necessarily perfect example, the child is given the tools to evaluate the action, the causuality, and reflect to gain from the experience an understanding beyond , "You break, I punish". It is a reflection of the "Love All".
To love others without love of self is of slander self.
To love self without love of others is slander others.
Neither is good or healthy.
To live self with a love that enables love of others, the "Love All" is the Middle Way.
It is not the way of the selfish or the coward. It is the way of the truely brave.

Peace to all

@Kotishka
Some thoughts written humbly, since it's easy to give advice and perspective, and difficult to implement. Feel free to ignore all of the following 🫡
1) If there were not some challenges, it would not be called practice, and there would not be much benefit.
2) Re the hotel workers, maybe this famous quote is relevant: 'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win'. Easier said than done, but to my mind, a most excellent little experiment would be to see whether you can win them over via virtous means, which might include some slightly difficult conversations.
3) Do not expect everyone to praise your most excellent plogging efforts. Some will berate you for doing it. I know, since that was also my experience. It is best to a) find a firm resolve in ourselves and - yes - praise and rejoice in our good action ourselves and b) discuss it mostly with those who are on a similar path, with good spiritual friends. And you have those at a minimum on these boards. We must learn to stick to our right action and right effort even in the face of criticism by those a bit less fortunate in terms of understanding what is wholesome and what is not. Not always easy, but sooner or later, we must learn that too.
4) Do not expect the plogging to be a 'walk in the park'. Yes, mostly it is very nice and pleasurable. But sometimes, just like in meditation, obstacles arise. Then, we work with them. Plogging is, to my mind, meditation in action, meditation while giving the body something to do.
5) Your job is not to rid the world of trash, nor is it to initiatiate some kind of revolution in approaching trash in your community. If a bit of that happens, great. But do not expect it. Your job, to my mind, is to a) train yourself in virtue b) spend time in a wholesome activity c) brighten the mind and emotions and d) gain merit/good karma/kamma, if that's something you believe in.

In any case, I applaud your most excellent efforts! I also read your updates with great interest. You motivate me to come back to the plogging, since I let it slide for a while. So, maybe you won't get a bunch of hotel workers to change their ways, but you just might inspire another fellow plogger ie. me. 🤗🫡❤️

I sometimes fall into the trap of: not following my way, not correct or react poorly to injustices. For example, I noticed that some of the workers from the hotel that is next to my house have noticed I'm cleaning so they literally dump all their coffee cups and bags there...like expecting me to clean it. They also laugh at me. It makes me really angry to the point of thinking what is the point. If I fly to India or some other south Asian country I will be flabbergasted by what irresponsibility and ignorance multiplied by 10000000000000 can do.

I started this mini metta mantra which is: "Poor them. They aren't aware of what they are doing. Poor me. Intoxicating myself with these poisonous thoughts."

I like to read the Dhammapada when I have a particular hard day. I think it is the metta manual by excellence.

"197. Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us! among men who hate us let us dwell free from hatred!"

Hi August,
Hope you enjoy the forums!

I find practicing metta is best done in the morning after a small extra snooze. For me, metta is part of my nature that comes after sleep, and gradually dissipates after my morning coffee.

So if I practice metta at that time I kind of naturally fall into it and it comes to me easily.

If I practice metta in the afternoon I typically start with thinking about cats and dogs, objects of affection that warm the heart.